Is buying cheap clothes made in China a sin?

[Texas_Roofer]

So we should lobby for a trade embargo on all products from China? What might the consequences be of stopping all trade with China?

It would be a disaster for the U.S. China is huge and growing the U.S. is large and trying to shrink! We need them as customers, even though this thread is about us buying we are also selling. If we stop buying they will also stop buying.

I have put in this effort and it’s often very difficult to discover this information–even when looking for it. I generally stick to a couple of brands that I trust, but occassionally buy other brands and there’s only so much research one can do when shopping with limited time and money. Incidently, this isn’t always a problem reserved for “cheap” clothing–sometimes the more expensive clothes may manufactured under bad labor conditions. This is one area where I wish our government would get involved and help stop imports of items made from sweat-shop labor…

If our government gets involved you will see more sweet shops not less, please remember that. The big irony is sweet shop exist when the workers lack other options, as the workers work they work themselves into more options. So buying more actually reduces the sweet shops while buying less actually increases the sweet shops. A better option is requiring a minimum wage be present, as opposed to disqualifying manufactures

I completely agree… it isn’t an easy thing to research, especially when the supply chain is so long (raw goods → manufacturers → wholesalers → distributers → stores).

I couldn’t agree more. Why does government not put more of an effort into this? I think if there was more pressure from the public, it would become a higher priority.

Great point. I think materialism is a major issue that is ignored these days. Too often we act ignorantly and don’t look behind the curtain to see what cost things are being made. We get excited about a great sale price and the idea of spending so little money on an item we will barely lose, while children, families, and cultures are suffering for something we don’t even properly value (or really need).

Once allowed to earn money the Chinese materialism will drive their increase in living standard. So allowing trade now means improving the life of the Chinese worker. It is an imperfect system, however it maybe the best option available. Sorry if that sounds harsh but until a better system is available we may need to allow them the opportunity to grow.

 

[aksel24]

No buying
Cheap Clothes is not sin.

 

[Catholic90]

No buying
Cheap Clothes is not sin.

Spamming us, eh? Not nice. Really not nice to resurrect an old thread to do so.

Reported.

 

[McatholicN]

Where am I supposed to get clothes that weren’t made in a sweatshop, or involved in some other immoral activity for that matter? Should I go out to buy my own clothes and tell my parents that I gave up all my old clothes because it could be sinful to wear them? Is it sinful?

I’m just worried about the practical applications that this (and the many similar questions to this; dealing with supporting companies involved in morally questionable practices) have on our lives, in order to avoid sin.

 

[MAV0524]

Is it a sin to buy cheap clothing from retailers that most likely make use of sweat-shop labour?

I think it would be difficult to tell which products originate from slave labour or working conditions abhorrent for a developing country. They may make low wages in China but most the world makes wages at their level.

As much as people bash cheap Chinese labor, it would be difficult to find a laptop for $400 if all the parts were made in developed countries.

 

[Dakota_Roberts]

The wages of Chinese labourers have increased substantially over the past decades. Workers in the shops are better off there than they were before. People choose to work there.

 

[RastaPasta]

Well (like somebody else already stated) it’s next to impossible to buy something that hasn’t been made in China (or some other country outside of the USA).

Is it a sin to shop at Walmart?

I don’t shop at Walmart, but a lot of people do… and many of the goods and products that they sell are made in China or elsewhere (but the items are less expensive).

Is it a sin to use a computer?

If you are reading this post, you must be using one.

Ever open the case up?

Although your computer might have been assembled in the USA (if you are from the USA), it most likely wasn’t… and the vast majority of components were probably manufactured in China.

It would be wrong to deliberately purchase items that you know are being produced by individuals that are being exploited… but not everyone in China is.

On the other hand - I have no doubt that some of the items that are in my possession (clothing, electronic equipment etc.) were most likely manufactured in some factory somewhere, that does not treat their workers fairly and/or justly. I don’t know which items or which factories, but I have no doubt that they are there.

I pray about it, ask God for my forgiveness, and make a conscious effort to check manufacturing labels, but unfortunately, buying imported goods is pretty much unavoidable.

How many people posting to this forum make use of a cell phone?

That could be construed as another sin (because most of them are manufactured in China as well).

Fact is, most everything around us comes from another country. A good amount of our food, our clothes, our fuel, our computers, our cell phones (and other electronic goods) are all the result of foreign labor.

But like the good book says… we are all sinners.

 

[centurionguard]

No disrespect to the OP but I find the question for the most part redundant.

With the United States being the biggest consumer country in the world and with a $14.5 trillion dollar debt with 2.5 trillion owing to China and slightly more owing to Japan, the U.S. has no choice but to trade with China its second world largest trading partner as with commodities with separate third world countries themselves.

I’m just happy that United States and Canada are the biggest trading partners in the world.

 

[Tenofovir]

Is it a sin to buy cheap clothing from retailers that most likely make use of sweat-shop labour?

By European standards most Japanese, Taiwanese and Americans also work in sweat shops. It depends on the definition I would say.

But for purely China, most goods are made in China, and non Chinese goods are usually much more expensive. You are inevitably supporting a Chinese factory each time you do anything because every car, shop, computer, home, building, office, etc has parts made in China and in using those amenities you are causing wear & tear and greater requirements for them. Hence more Chinese workers need to work.

But then again without that work these people would usually be much worse off.